“Why did we squabble, pick at, and destroy each other when life was so cruel anyway?”

Alice Sadie Celine is challenging to review, as it’s unlike anything I’ve read before. It’s alluring, yet cold. There is little character growth, and very little plot. Yet, I didn’t hate it? I still felt relatively invested? I wanted to see if these characters would do better. Confusing, as those lacking factors usually are deal-breakers for me.

Plot Thoughts: As I mentioned above, I feel like there wasn’t a lot that actually happened in this novel. We see past, present, and the future; however, we don’t see much other than the characters interacting amongst themselves. The writing was more tell than show, which I struggled with.

Character Thoughts: It was interesting to see characters have such a lack of self-awareness. It was interesting to see how so many years can go by, with such little development. It was interesting to explore nature vs. nurture and personality vs. environmental factors. This also was more tell than show, and I wanted to better understand the characters motives behind their decision making.

At the end of the day, I still wanted MORE from this novel. I wanted something to happen; it just felt a little too stagnant for my liking. It was an interesting exploration of unlikeable characters & their characteristics, but overall that’s not enough for me to rate it higher.

While I appreciate the opportunity to read and review this book, I could not get into it. Maybe it was the writing style? Maybe it was how standoffish the characters seemed to be. Codependent? The hyper-fixation, yet juvenile way Sadie looked at sex was off putting

This one was just okay. The story was a little too weird for me. I loved the lesbian and Feminist representation in this but wish they had been portrayed in a better and more realistic light.

Three stars for the lack of character development. They all moved instead of having presence and growth. Four stars for the prose, its introspection and pop culture and sports references, including Raheem Mostert along with capturing the dreamy of Berkeley and Los Angeles that was its own character and kept me interested in the story.

I know that this one has mixed reviews so far, but I enjoyed and recommend this book! The story of a queer mother, her traditional daughter, and her daughter’s best friend, Alice Sadie Celine is a messy, literary, unconventional love triangle, where the lines represent romance, friendship, lust, chosen family, conflict — all the many forms of love.

**SPOILER AHEAD**

And as for that controversial last chapter… I enjoyed the voices we heard and the time jump. I only wish we saw or heard a bit more about Alice and Sadie’s reconciliation, though I understand the choice to skip it.

Published by Simon & Schuster on November 28, 2023

Alice, Sadie, and Celine is a study of the three women who lend their names to the novel’s title. Celine McKeogh is a “decorated feminist” who teaches gender studies at Berkeley. Her daughter Sadie learned to hate Celine during her childhood because so many people hate Celine that hating her made Sadie feel normal. Celine is angry at Sadie because Sadie isn’t angry at men. “Well, you should be,” Celine assures her daughter. Sadie is too busy being angry at her mother to spare any time for men, apart from a recently acquired boyfriend who needs some alterations (“shorten the sincerity and let out the sex appeal”). But Sadie at 23 is still a virgin and uncertain that she can rid herself of that affliction.

Sadie’s best childhood friend was and remains Alice, although a rift has separated them ever since Alice moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. Alice is back in San Francisco to act in a community playhouse version of A Winter’s Tale. The venue is unimpressive but Alice notes with pride that the acting company received four stars on Yelp. Perhaps because she made a promise to spend the weekend with her boyfriend or perhaps because she is angry at Alice, Sadie sends Celine in her stead to watch Alice’s performance on opening night.

Celine is unhappy to be drafted into service but Celine is unhappy about everything. Although she has never taken Alice seriously, Celine is overcome by a sudden onrush of lust when she sees Alice playing the role of Hermione in tight jeans. Celine makes a move on Alice, who is too stunned to resist. Soon embraced by lustful desires of her own, Alice begins a clandestine relationship with Celine. Will it be a friendship destroyer when Sadie learns the truth?

Backstories follow, developing the childhoods of Sadie and Alice and the adulthood of Celine. It is easy to understand why Alice and Sadie bonded as kids. Alice had minimal interaction with her own mother and envied Sadie for having a mother who fought with her constantly. Alice grew up in a comfortable home but she “felt the house like a snake feels the fraying skin — shiny scales gone lusterless, old iridescence — that it is past time to molt.”

Sadie envies Alice for knowing “so much about men. You’re a man whisperer.” Sadie is a planner but because life interferes with plans, Sadie “lived a life of fictive imaginings.” In the present, we learn how Sadie’s plan to lose her virginity goes awry, probably because she read her mother’s first book and believes that sex with males is always coercive, notwithstanding her decision to date the least coercive guy imaginable.

Alice is “generous and kind, agreeable, pretty, adored by all.” But does she have any substance? It isn’t surprising that after her lust abates, Celine realizes she has allowed herself to become “madly infatuated with a nobody.”

Celine is the most interesting character. At 44, her academic career is stuck. Her early work has suffered from the plague of widespread acceptance. Ideas that were once radical have become mainstream, robbing her of her relevance. In middle age, Celine cannot even scandalize her own daughter. Celine has responded to her circumstances by developing “a remarkable ability to sniff out happiness and stifle it like a fire extinguisher.” It’s no wonder that she’s widely disliked by all, although she does have a certain charm that shines through her self-centered demeanor.

The novel takes a long jump into the future as it winds up the story, featuring the child of a main character. We learn that the main characters learned some lessons. Good for them. The child, on the other hand, is judgmental and still has much to learn. Maybe the point of jumping ahead (which otherwise baffled me a bit) is to demonstrate that each new generation has a lot to learn before it is qualified to judge members of the previous generation. Or perhaps the point is to show that some adults still need to grow up, regardless of age.

Sara Blakley-Cartwright’s story is amusing because her characters adhere closely to stereotypes. Celine is a caricature of a woman who became an influential feminist in an era where feminist scholarship was trying to establish its relevance in academia and who cannot easily cope with the loss of attention she experienced when gender studies moved beyond her early contribution.

Celine’s relationship with Sadie is anchored in the stereotype of mother-daughter relationships involving mothers who want to be admired more than loved by their daughters and stunted daughters who, fighting to reject maternal advice they may have already internalized, want to be accepted more than guided by their mothers. Alice represents the stereotype of a pretty girl who aspires to be an actress and, having given little thought to her life, is surprised but unprepared when she encounters new ideas and experiences.

I don’t know if the story intends to satirize porn, but sex with a best friend’s MILF, coupled with a lesbian twist, seems to merge multiple Pornhub categories. Perhaps the story is meant to titillate, although (unlike Pornhub) the sex is far from graphic. The plot doesn’t amount to much —a disappointment to readers who can’t live without a thrilling plot — but it is a reliable vehicle to ferry the characters through the novel. Blakley-Cartwright’s observant prose exposes the characters’ foibles and pokes good-natured fun at the social groups they represent. Alice Sadie Celine is an easy book to enjoy.

RECOMMENDED

Lots of hype for book that wasn’t well written. The characters were weak and non memorable. Great premise but didn’t live up to it.

Alice Sadie Celine by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright has a compelling premise and I was very intrigued by the relationships depicted in the book's description. However, the friendship never fully sparked on the page and neither did the affair. Without the chemistry and crackling tension between the characters, the book didn't quite live up to its premise (or promise). I am curious to see what the author writes next. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read the e-galley.

I enjoyed reading Alice Sadie Celine. I liked the exploration of relationships among the three women, as well as how relationships don't always have firm boundaries. I liked the somewhat cringe moments from the characters.

"Alice Sadie Celine" is an intimate examination of motherhood, friendship, sisterhood and what happens when the line between those begins to blur. This story is so human with smart dialogue and very realistic characters. However, the pacing is a bit awkward at times and the ending is quite jarring in comparison to the rest of the novel.
Overall, a pretty enjoyable read — 3.75/5 from me.
Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advance copy!

A story about an affair between a girl and her best friend's mom? SIGN ME UP. I love reading about scenarios I would never get myself into. This was more character-driven than plot which I wasn't expecting but still enjoyed. I loved the last chapter; it was the perfect way to close such a messy story.

Thank you to @simonbooks and Sarah Blakley Cartwright for my gifted copy of Alice Sadie Celine!

I knew when I read the first few sentences of this book that I was going to love it. The writing style reminds me of Sally Rooney. It sucks you into the characters because they are complicated and flawed. I’m always a sucker for books with multiple POVs, but I especially loved the contrast of how these characters see the same situation differently. It highlighted the idiosyncrasies of their personalities, and it highlighted the complicated nature of parental love.

When judging a person or really any person, it’s easy to forget that parents are just people. We want them to be perfect, but they are flawed people just trying to survive life as well. The cycle of parenting and how we develop as people in reaction to how we are parented is so obvious in this book.

I did not read the blurb before jumping in, and I’m glad I didn’t because some parts were shocking in the best way. I recommend this book if you are jonesing for a Normal People vibe or if you love complicated people (I do!).

This book was very close to 5 stars for me.

If you like reading about family/friend drama where the distinction between the two blurs, this book may be for you! Alice and Sadie have been best friends since they were young, and both attended UC Berkeley in their hometown. Alice finally left for LA to progress her career as an actor. However, at the ripe age of 25, she returned for a role in a show with a local theater group. Sadie has a conflict and can’t attend Alice’s opening night, and convinces her mother, Celine, a professor of women's and gender studies, to attend in her place. Unknowingly, Sadie has set her mother and her best friend’s affair in motion with this invite. Alice soon moves back to the bay area, without telling her family or Sadie, spending all of her time with Celine. The new lovers’ passion is juxtaposed on the page with Sadie’s attempts to lose her virginity to her boyfriend.
I can understand some may be hesitant about this age-gap romance between a mom and her daughter’s best friend, but I personally found it hard to put down. Both Alice’s self-discovery of another part of her sexuality and Sadie’s struggle with her anxiety about losing her virginity seemed realistic for 25 year olds. Multiple POV provided additional insight into each character, and I enjoyed how pieces of the girls’ childhood and adolescence were interwoven in the current day story. Thank you to Simon & Schuster for a gifted finished copy and NetGalley ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. The book is available everywhere now!

I am so thankful to the Simon Books, Netgalley, and Sarah Blakely-Cartwright for granting me early access to this gorgeous collection. I love a good book of drama and friendship and this one scratched my itch. I am so thankful for the consideration.

This book just wasn't for me. Hard to get into.

Alice and Sadie have been best friends since they were kids. They come from completely different backgrounds. Alice comes from old money and doesn't need to work, but she does because she enjoys it. Sadie was raised by a single mother who was a big part of the feminist movement back in the day.

Celine is a professor at Berkeley, she didn't raise Sadie like a child, she raised her as an opinionated adult, never hiding anything from her.

Sadie was going out of town on the opening night of Alice's new play, so she asks Celine to go in her place for support. Celine hasn't seen Alice in years, she's always been jealous that Sadie loved hanging around Alice's mom because she was a real mom. But after seeing her performance that night, Celine realized that Alice grew into a beautiful woman and becomes enthralled with her. She goes back to see the play the next three nights and then invites Alice out for a drink. The next morning when Alice wakes up next to Celine, Alice has regrets about what happened the night before. She felt that she betrayed her best friend. Weeks go by and they don't see each other until Alice calls Celine to talk about what happened. Celine lures Alice to her home for the weekend to talk things through, but seduces her instead. This is the beginning of their secret relationship. Sadie has no idea about anything.

When Sadie finds out later, she's furious and cuts them both off. This is when Alice grows a backbone and finally does something serious with her acting, she becomes very successful. Years later, Sadie and Alice have made amends and are close once again. But Celine is jealous of their relationship because Alice wants nothing to do with the manipulative woman.

As I read #AliceSadieCeline, I continually asked myself what this book was about. @sarblakcart answered my question in the acknowledgements when she said this is a story of three women. But is it so simple? Two major themes for me were sex and mother-daughter relationships. This novel explores how our relationship with sex can really ruin everything else… or make our lives so much better. And tied into that, when we don’t have secure relationships with our mothers/daughters we can turn ourselves inside out trying to find a suitable replacement. Lots of food for thought here! I will say the affair between Alice and Celine was much more interesting to me than the rest of the backstory and Sadie’s stuff. Thank you for the gifted copy @simonbooks! #simonbooksbuddy

Alice Sadie Celine follows the story of three women, the first two best friends, and the last being Sadie's mother. Everything gets complicated when Sadie can't make it to Alice's opening night performance so she sends her mom to take her place. Celine is amazed by how Alice turned into a woman, nothing like the girl who used to hang out with her daughter all the time. Celine and Alice get tangled in a hot relationship despite its messiness. They both know Sadie is unsufferable and once she knows about them, she will freak out.

I loved the first half of this book. It was intriguing with enough delicious drama to keep going until I hit the second half, the plot gets boring and repetitive. The end was incredibly rushed and inconclusive at the same time. I'm still giving it 4 stars because I enjoyed the writing.

Thank you netgalley and the publishers for the early galley.

This is a story about the mysteries inherent in even the closest relationships.  Alice, an aspiring actress, has been best friends with Sadie since high school.  The two could not be more different. Alice is easygoing, sees the best in everyone, and comes from a wealthy, emotionally distant family.  Sadie is serious, highly organized, and the daughter of a prominent professor with whom she is both close and has a difficult relationship.  Now out of college, the two are navigating adulthood in their own way. 

When Alice is performing in a play back in their hometown, Sadie has a conflict she is unwilling to move so she asks her mother, Celine, to attend in her place.  Celine reluctantly agrees, but surprises herself when she becomes enthralled by Alice and her performance.  After attending the play three days in a row, Celine and Alice realize they have an unexpected connection, and they begin a secret relationship.  As the relationship continues, it tests each of Celine and Alice's self-perception and the ways they understand how they relate to who had previously been the most important person in each of their lives: Sadie.

This was an interesting book.  Moving between the perspectives of the three main characters and through time, from the present day to each character's histories, the author deftly portrays how Alice, Sadie, and Celine were deeply shaped by their relationships to each other and their own, circumscribed perspectives on those relationships.  In many ways this is a story about the contests of who knows another person best -- with each person periodically firm in the conviction that none of the others really understand them.  I also appreciated the end of the novel that both offers resolution of the core story -- which, in the end, occupied an important but brief period of their lives -- but also shows how this period fits in, and sheds lights on, the characters' overall lives.

Highly recommended!

I loved this book. I gave this 4.25 stars overall!! The writing though is totally a 5, I love this writing style and I need mooooore. I am a total sucker for queer lit fic. I love it, I devour it. That being said, I don't think this book is going to be beloved it think people are going to fervently hate it. Which is a shame, beautiful writing.

Sarah Blakley-Cartwright writes about a twisted, complicated relationship between three women in Alice Sadie Celine. Alice and Sadie are best friends who grew up together in the Bay Area. Alice has left for Los Angeles to try and make it as an actress, while Sadie is still searching for what she wants to do with her life. They are close- they talk all the time. Alice is starring in a play, which Sadie backs out of attending, offering her mother Celine as a substitute to attend. Celine is a gender studies professor at Berkeley known for a popular gender studies book she wrote when she was younger. She left Sadie's father when Sadie was young, moved to the west coast and recognized that she was really a lesbian. Celine sees multiple performances of Alice's play and after the third night, there is an unspoken crackle and Alice and Celine sleep together. If this surprises you, it surprised me as well- I do not get the chemistry. The author backtracks after this episode and explains Celine's childhood and her rearing of Sadie. All these relationships are truly unstable and all the characters are using one another in different ways, and are ultimately quite horrid to one another. I could get past the uncomfortable and weird nature of all of the relationships, but the ending that jumps ahead in time was what really took me out of the book and was unexplainable and way too tidy, so this was a miss for me. I can absolutely see why readers would enjoy this book- it deals with interesting relationship dynamics, but I was just so turned off by all three of the characters and the unsatisfying ending, I just could not get past it.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the advance reader copy in exchange for honest review.